


Watching Dawn

by iexoeris



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25136719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iexoeris/pseuds/iexoeris
Summary: Bounty hunter Chanyeol gets assigned to kill his lover, Baekhyun, that never showed up to their wedding.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 21
Kudos: 48
Collections: Challenge #4 — Into the Future, iexoeris's short fics and drabbles





	Watching Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, thank you mod N for organizing this all on your own. Secondly, thanks to all those who clicked on this work of fiction. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, let me know. 
> 
> Stay safe, and healthy.

Chanyeol hauled the rusted metal-boxes off the truck – loads of scraps and garbage they’d harden the walls with. His commander bellowed:

“Number 2348, fasten up, will you? We haven’t got seconds to spare for your tardy arse.”

2348, a boy with a shrivelled face, an eye pulled out from its socket, straightened and raced towards the truck. Good decision, Chanyeol thought. The first command’s warning, the second’s a murder.

“61!” Chanyeol turned at his name, shouted by 28, his old friend, the messenger of the ruined lands, “The Circle sent for you.”

Chanyeol bowed to the commander and ran as quick as his feet carried him to the rusty, round building. _Leader_ inhaled smoke from his pipe, and lazily handed him the stained sheet –

“004. It’s been more months than our sons live for since he vanished. I want him here.”

“Sir, but he-”

“-is your fiancé that never showed up to your wedding, accurate?” _Leader_ snorted, “I want him dead at my feet, and you’re my hunter, aren’t you?”

 _Leader_ had a wicked smile, frosted ice on a bleeding sword, and his word was the law in their unlawful disaster.

Chanyeol left the room.

* * *

He knew where Baekhyun might be, if his pre-D-day drawings - the high trees, bundled and bunched, crawling at the remains of the sky – were any clue. The trees were bare now, scorched skeletons, and masses of rock.

Chanyeol walked through them – the farthest he’d been allowed to go. If you breached the borders, you died. But chances of survivals weren’t much inside the borders, either.

When the trees thickened, the ash and burning chemicals became unbearable. He knew Baekhyun was here. He’d been the odd kid – weaving crowns of dead flowers to put upon his squirrel.

They roasted and ate the squirrel two years ago in their hunger.

Something rustled in the corners, and Chanyeol’s ears perked up. No life lived here other than _him._ He broke into a run, jumping into the clearing and raised his gun at the sound. There he was, bunched up in leathery rags, his eyes aghast but a tipped-metal-stick in his hands.

“004,” Chanyeol breathed out, “You’ve been charged of breaching-”

“It’s Baekhyun.”

“-security borders and – what.” Chanyeol tried to keep a straight face, “You’re not Baekhyun, 004.”

The man stood up, stumbling on his legs, and Chanyeol almost reached out for him… _almost._

“I’m Baekhyun. And you’re brainwashed, Chanyeol.” His voice sounded the exact same. He said his name as if he had always been here.

“No.” Chanyeol stepped closer, “You’re not Baekhyun for me. You’re a _wretch_ that made me believe in happiness in a dying world and broke those dreams apart.”

He watched his features scrunch, his eyes water, and his shoulders heave. It’s been less than a minute since they met, but he was already crying.

“Don’t shed those tears,” Chanyeol’s voice shook, though he tried to act composed, like he was a dutiful bounty hunter that knew what he was doing, “That’s water we’d kill for.”

“You kill the wrong ones.” Baekhyun shrugged, the same words he’d uttered in the past, “The poor driven to madness, and not the cunt that smokes in his air-conditioned office.”

“We don’t talk of our _leader_ like that, Baekhyun.”

“Not _my_ leader, Yeol,” he defied, before sighing, “At least, you called me Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol exhaled, “Enough talk and chatter, Baekhyun. Come with me as easily you’d left me.” He raised his gun, _daring_ him.

But Baekhyun just smiled at him, brokenly, “Then, it’d take us three years.”

Chanyeol’s features hardened, “The years I moved around you like a love-sick fool, you kept thinking whether to leave me or not.”

Baekhyun stepped forward, and his familiar heat reached Chanyeol, tantalizing, “You’re wrong. It was never about leaving you – it was about dreaming of a better future.”

“Great. How thankful am I to know I wasn’t a part of the bargain at all.”

“Of course, you weren’t. I love you; how could I ever pull you into…this?” He spread his arms, “You smiled when tears formed an ocean for me, Yeol. I _love_ you.”

“It doesn’t matter now, because I don’t.” He bit his lip, “And is this your better future? The woods?”

Baekhyun didn’t answer, but his eyes flickered with light – that he hadn’t lost. _Love._ “Do you remember my favourite place?”

Chanyeol put the gun down, shoulders deflated, “Of course, I do. The Grove. I doubt if you’d even remember my favourite colour.”

“Silver,” Baekhyun answered, smiling, “And you’re right. The Grove. We are standing there, now. It’s where you proposed, didn’t you?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened and he looked at the scorched ground. Nothing remained of the Grove.

Then, his eyes fell onto a crowd of silver plants, blooming towards the dark sky.

“Nightshade.” Baekhyun smiled, “I wanted to get married here, so I sneaked out, and I found a flower – still alive in a dead world. I brought it back for you, but it was too late. The borders were down, and I was a criminal. Look, it’s a tiny farm, now.”

Chanyeol’s head pounded, and his heart ached. A tear slipped down his own cheeks, and wordlessly, he sat on the floor, watching the flowers dance. Baekhyun sat beside him, in utter silence, daringly leaning his head against Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“You’re warm.”

“You’re just cold.”

He chuckled, and Chanyeol loved the bright dancing flecks in his eyes.

“Don’t go back, Yeol.” Baekhyun faced him, cupping his cheeks, “Stay with me. Here. We’ll remove that cunt – just don’t leave me.”

“I am supposed to kill you…”

Baekhyun’s face fell, and Chanyeol grabbed his cold face, kissed his lips. His pretty, dry lips he loved.

“Never mind, I’d rather kiss you.”

Baekhyun broke into laughter, and nobody murdered him. He called him ‘Chanyeol’ and nobody hurt him. 

“What now?” Chanyeol asked.

Baekhyun hummed, a serene look on his face as he gazed at the sky. The dark night was lightening.

“Now, we watch the dawn.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading till the end ^^


End file.
